Haringey hired spin doctors to rebuild the image of former head of children’s services Sharon Shoesmith, above

The council that failed to protect Baby P spent £19,000 on spin doctors hired to rebuild the image of former head of children’s services Sharon Shoesmith, it emerged today.

The money was used to train her and other Haringey colleagues on how to answer probing questions from journalists following the Baby P tragedy.

The 55-year-old, who was suspended last week but who is still picking up her £110,000 salary, was given role-play exercises by up to three external firms as part of the package - even though the north London local authority has its own communications team.

This came after she twice refused to apologise at a press conference for her department’s failure to save the 17-month-old who was tortured to death by his mother, stepfather and a lodger.

Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone said: ‘It is absolutely outrageous that this money has been wasted on spin doctors.

‘Every penny of this cash would have been better spent on improving our children’s services.’

The spending was revealed in a written question tabled by the LibDems to council leader George Meehan before he resigned.

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It also emerged today that Haringey council is at the centre of another abuse scandal after claims a five-year-old boy was beaten while in its care.

Police are investigating allegations of serious abuse against a victim known as ‘Child C’.

The child was snatched from his home in Africa and handed to a follower of self-styled archbishop Gilbert Deya, who has been at the centre of investigations into a ‘miracle baby’ child-trafficking scandal, with infants allegedly stolen and passed to infertile women who were then convinced they had conceived through prayer.

Tragedy: Baby P died despite 50 visits from social workers and other agencies

Once in the UK, the follower adopted the five-year-old, but he was seized by police in 2003 and taken into care where he has passed through six different sets of carers.

The authorities were alerted when concerns were raised by a consultant child psychiatrist after the boy was taken to hospital.

Police were called in after Shoesmith was handed a dossier of evidence claiming the youngster was being abused.

Haringey council has been slammed for its failure to protect Baby P, who died despite 50 visits from social workers and other agencies.

Meanwhile, councils are being deterred from taking abused children into care by soaring family court fees, Britain’s leading QC claims.

Desmond Browne, the new chairman of the Bar Council, said that the Baby P case had exposed how town halls were put off by the court costs of intervening to protect youngsters.

Browne said that this year court fees in some child cases had risen from £150 to £5,000 as Justice Secretary Jack Straw slashed family legal aid.